“Chase?” Lily murmured. “What?”

“Nothing,” Chase said gruffly and kissed her again, driving away the memories with the heat of Lily’s mouth. Lily kissed her back, a hungry kiss, the slide of teeth over her lower lip, the flick of tongue that sent heat streaking low between her thighs. She slid an arm around Lily’s waist and pulled her closer until the darkness between them disappeared and their bodies met.

“Damn it, you feel amazing.” Chase explored and teased and lost herself in the scent of her.

Lily pulled away, her breasts rising and falling swiftly against Chase’s chest. “Time-out.”

“What?” Chase muttered, her head clouded with everything Lily—her scent, her taste, the soft heat of her breasts against Chase’s.

“I don’t usually do that,” Lily said, her words breathless.

“What?” Chase repeated, struggling to focus.

“Invite a woman I barely know to kiss me.”

“Did you now? Invite me?” Chase kissed the angle of Lily’s jaw before tugging the lobe of Lily’s ear carefully between her teeth. “Forward of you.”

Lily arched into her, her head dropping back with a moan.

“I believe…I did. I was…I…God, that feels good, Chase.”

“You feel good,” Chase whispered, her mouth against the beating pulse in Lily’s throat. “I can’t get enough of kissing you.”

Lily laughed, a sound as light and fleeting as a breeze. “I think we’d better stop. Considering…”

Chase raised her head and blinked. “Why?”

“We don’t really know each other,” Lily said, “and…mmm, right there, you have such a gorgeous mouth…and you’re my best friend’s sister, and—”

“My sister has nothing to do with this, and I know enough.” Chase kissed the base of her throat. “I know you like fast cars, and cream in your coffee, and see beauty in silence…” She unbuttoned the top button of Lily’s cotton shirt and kissed the spot she’d exposed. “I—”

“If we keep going, it will be harder to stop.”

“So?” Chase went back to kissing Lily’s throat, and Lily wrapped both arms around her neck, her body gently surging against Chase’s. Lily’s fingers stroked through her hair, setting her skin on fire wherever she touched.

“We’re standing on a rocky beach in the middle of the night,” Lily said. “It’s stop or go insane.”

“I’m already insane.”

Lily laughed and gently pressed both hands against Chase’s shoulders and pushed herself back. “You make me forget.”

Chase tried to catch her breath and couldn’t remember the last time she’d been senseless with need, if ever. Her stomach twisted with urgency, and her muscles twitched with the relentless pressure to touch her again. “Forget what?”

“Everything, Chase. Everything.”

“Is that bad?”

“I don’t know. But I think I need to.”

“I…all right. Enough for now.” She brushed the back of her knuckles gently along Lily’s jaw. “But I want to do this again.”

“I can’t promise that,” Lily said quietly.

“You don’t have to.”

The night grew steadily cooler as Chase took Lily’s hand, and they walked in silence back to the lodge.